Faith
After 21 Years Apart
When you move around a lot as a kid, you don’t build a lot of lasting relationships. From 1995-1999, when I was living in Oregon, Joel Williams was the closest thing I had to a best friend, someone to hold…
Hijacking Hypocrisy
People used to tell me that right and wrong was black and white, that for someone to talk about doing right while they were doing wrong was hypocritical. Growing up in a Christian family, my first memorable exposure to this…
The Right Time to Say Something
Over the past decade or two, perhaps longer, you’ve almost certainly heard, or come to the conclusion, that debating is worthless, that trying to convince someone that their views are misguided, or foolish, or harmful, is impossible. So why try.…
How Fiction Travels in True Stories
Years ago, I used to sit in church and scribble comments along the edges of a paper bulletin, a way of quietly responding to and criticizing the sermon in real time. Hardly a Sunday would go by that I didn’t…
When the Foundation Breaks
Only a few things were ever truly sacred to me as a child. I trusted in a God I could not see, in a Bible I was told he had written, and, being fortunate, in the visible, unbreakable bond of…
Think on These Things
“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue… think on these things.” Philippians 4:8
Every Other Morning
Let me start with a confession and work backwards. I haven’t prayed in years. Not a real, meaningful prayer anyhow. Not since I don’t know when. Nor have I set foot inside of a church in years. Not any church,…
Provenance, in Posterity
For someone raised in the church, someone who learned to read on parables and psalms and proverbs, I find myself narrowly conscious of a time before I knew why. Before I knew about God. Or sin. Or mercy. Before I…
